Prey 2 no longer being developed by Human Head and has instead changed hands to Arkane Studios, say the latest reports.

The long-in-development and troubled follow-up to 2006’s Prey has endured rumours of cancellation and suspension, following its announcement in 2011.

Now, however, it seems that Dishonored developer Arkane has taken charge of the Bethesda-owned project.

According to the report, the team at Arkane has been told to “forget that it’s called Prey 2 and just treat it like a new System Shock.” Arkane is staffed by several members of Looking Glass, the outfit that created System Shock. In turn, System Shock is a spiritual predecessor to the BioShock series.

Perhaps the craziest part of this rumour, however, is that the game is now slated for a 2016 release, suggesting that most of the work done on the game so far is being thrown out the window. It also points to an Xbox One release.

What work has been done so far, we don’t know, but the report does claim that the game has bounced from studio to studio. Apparently, Obsidian had its hands on the title for a little while, and Rebellion were offered the project but turned it down.

So whatever state the game was in when it turned up at Arkane’s door, if indeed it has shown up at Arkane’s door, is likely a mess. A fresh start might be just what the project needs.

I remember everybody initially scoffed at the idea of Prey 2, but I thought it received really good impressions at one of the E3's 2-3 years ago. I also thought it was pretty far from anything resembling the original Prey.

In November 2011, production on Prey 2 came to a permanent full-stop. Disagreements between its developer and publisher caused a chain reaction that ultimately led to the death of Human Head’s version of Prey 2, the rights to which have since reverted back to Bethesda and allegedly landed in the lap of Dishonored developer Arkane.

But what happened to Prey 2, and why did political friction lead to the demise and apparent reassignment of an impressive open-world action game? IGN spoke with multiple sources with intimate knowledge of Prey 2 and the relationship between Human Head and Bethesda to find out.

Following Prey 2’s impressive showing at E3 2011, Bethesda, pleased with the team’s work, promised Human Head a development extension of six months to one year, a source said – all the time it needed to populate the mostly complete game world with missions, polish what rough edges remained, and ship Prey 2 in 2012 as planned. “That’s when Bethesda decided to play hardball and buy the studio,” said one source familiar with the situation. Another person close to Bethesda and Human Head shared a similar story.

In the following months, a source claimed, "Bethesda denied further funding of the project, and started failing milestones,” asking for changes and fixes without following through on its previous promise to give the team more time. The promise, however, was not inked on the contract, so Bethesda had no legal obligation to fulfill it. In addition, a source said, Bethesda was likely concerned with the "dated planning, tools, and techniques" Human Head was using. Meanwhile, the contract didn’t give the creative team any leverage: Prey 2 was the only game Human Head was legally allowed to develop on its own until the agreement expired -- to fill time and keep the lights on, the studio supported the development BioShock Infinite and Defiance. If it were to ever release, the team needed more cash and time to meet the rising demands to adjust Prey 2, which "needed a lot of work" and was "lackluster" from the publisher's perspective.

Conflict erupted – Human Head asked Bethesda to provide additional time and money, while Bethesda asked Human Head to meet the criteria agreed upon by their existing agreement. At this point, Bethesda "thought they could bully [Human Head] into a corner,” a source said, and the publisher made a move to buy Human Head. “It was one of few studios that could work with and improve id Technology. They wanted to buy us at a sweet price,” but the developer denied the buyout. Human Head didn't want to permanently marry itself to a publisher that was "bleeding Human Head dry." This would limit the studio's ability to work on its own creative endeavors down the line, potentially with other publishers.

In November 2011, in a play to keep Bethesda from purchasing Human Head, and as a result of the contract dispute, development stopped. One source called it a strike. In the following months, Bethesda and Human Head communicated sporadically, “but the conversation was very one sided. The studio made reasonable offers, but nothing came to fruition. Nothing moved in 2012.”

Bethesda appeared to wait out Human Head. The contractual agreement between the two eventually came to term, Bethesda got its game back without spending any more money, and Human Head went on its way – the team is currently working with a new publisher on another open-world game.

IGN's sources had no knowledge of Arkane taking over development of Prey 2, whether from scratch or where the team left off.

When approached for comment and clarification on the alleged buyout attempt, its relationship with Human Head, and contractual disputes, a Bethesda representative said, "As we stated before, we delayed the release of Prey 2 as development did not progress satisfactorily, and the game did not meet our quality standards...Beyond this, we don’t have any new update or comment."

Bethesda has explained its silence regarding Prey 2, saying that the game is currently “simply not good enough.”

Speaking to IGN, Bethesda's VP of PR Pete Hines said that the shooter sequel in development at Human Head just wasn’t up to scratch.

“We spent years and millions of dollars and a ton of effort trying to help Human Head make a great Prey 2 game,” he said. “What we said the last time was that it’s not up to our quality standards."

“It’s simply not good enough. We’re not going to just proceed blindly with something that isn’t good enough. We’ve been very specific about why, and we’ve been very specific about the whats.

“When that gets addressed and changed or whatever, at that point we can give an update. But nobody’s disappointment is greater than ours. We spent a lot of time and money and effort trying to make this thing happen and support folks, but at the same time, you just can’t keep throwing money at it and saying, ‘sure, it’ll eventually work.’

“You have to have the discipline to say, ‘it’s not good enough. It’s not hitting the quality bar. Why isn’t it? We’ve been at this for a while, and what we have is not what we talked about.’ So that’s where we are.”

Hines also responded to the various leaks regarding Prey 2, suggesting that previous details contained within reports may have been inaccurate.

“I think all of the stuff that you’ve heard at this point has been from one side of this, and it’s been somebody putting spin on it, like, ‘here’s what happened.’ No, that’s your version of what you think happened. I haven’t heard from anybody yet that actually sat in the room.

“There are quite a few folks at Human Head that I really like. Chris Rhinehart is one of the nicest guys I have ever met in this industry. He’s somebody I would consider a friend. I love hanging out with him. This isn’t anything to do with anything personal. I love that guy. I like a lot of the folks up there. It just has to do more with what the product looks like and if it’s good enough.

“As we said in our last update, it’s not good enough. It’s not where it needs to be. When we have more info than that, we’ll let you know.”

Hines concluded by saying that the amount of discussion and interest surrounding the game does at least suggest that fans are excited about the prospect of Prey 2.

“It’s great that people have passion for something that we’ve talked about,” he said. “I understand that, in general, there’s a lot of cynicism about the developer versus the publisher. But sometimes you just have to step back and be practical about it. What is the chance that we have some amazing, unbelievable game and we’re just not talking about it for no reason? Zero. This is a business. We do have bills to pay and people to employ. They have families that they would like to provide for.

“You don’t just keep throwing money at something or going down a path that you’re not happy about. You have to make tough choices. Again, when we have more info on it, we’ll be happy to talk about it. That’s what I can say for now.”

It’s merely speculation and rumour at this point, but Hines’ words do support the recent suggestion that Human Head is no longer working on the game. He may not have said it outright, but last month’s story about Dishonored developer Arkane taking over the project may well turn out to be true.

Prey 2 is officially cancelled and is no longer in development at Human Head Studios, says Bethesda vice president Pete Hines.

First announced in March 2011, Prey 2 was a sci-fi FPS set on an alien planet in which you play as former U.S. Marshall turned-bounty hunter, Killian Samuels.

Since it was first revealed, the game has been subject to numerous delays and rumours have circulated suggesting that development had been handed off to Dishonored creator Arkane.

This particular rumour was debunked by Hines last year, but regardless, the game was still clearly in trouble and Hines put the blame squarely at Human Head’s feet.

“We spent years and millions of dollars and a ton of effort trying to help Human Head make a great Prey 2 game,” said Hines in June, 2013. “What we said the last time was that it’s not up to our quality standards.”

Despite this, Hines still said that the game would come out eventually. Now it seems that’s no longer the case.

Speaking to CNET, Hines confirmed that Bethesda has given up on the hope of Human Head turning the project around. Prey 2 has been officially cancelled.

"It wasn't up to our quality standard and we decided to cancel it,” said Hines. “It's no longer in development. That wasn't an easy decision, but it's one that won't surprise many folks given that we hadn't been talking about it.”

Hines did not comment on exactly when the project was cancelled, adding only that Prey is “still a cool universe worth exploring”.

In June last year, documents emerged suggesting that Arkane was indeed working on a version of Prey 2, conceived as a spiritual successor to System Shock 2...

I just wonder why anyone thought making Prey 2 in 2017 was a good idea.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the game bombed when it came out some 11 years ago and the number of people who fondly remember the sequel has to be small -- let alone the number who actually would want a sequel today.
At very least, this is a game that could have benefited from some good reviews and positive word-of-mouth

Yeah, it's not even Prey 2, but just just Prey and it seems more like it's own thing rather then a sequel to the previous game(s). It seems to be getting a decent marketing push and hype, I've seen commercials on TV and as I mentioned before the previews i've seen have been extremely positive.

Plus, being made by Arkane who did the Dishonored games is a big plus for me.